Bears are showing their hand. Short interest signals and news flow point to concentrated bearish positioning across several names heading into a heavy earnings week.
HTZ stands out sharply. Short interest hit 70.1% of free float as of July 16. That is up nearly 10 percentage points in just seven days. With availability at 0%, there are virtually no shares left to borrow. That dynamic can cut both ways — a squeeze risk is real if any positive catalyst lands.
MSTR tells a different story. Short interest sits at 11.9% of free float. Availability is a massive 288%, meaning bears can pile in further with ease. The cost to borrow is just 0.57% annually.
On the earnings front, ORTEX news flags that "puts are running hot" ahead of reports from GOOGL, NFLX, V, and MS this week. Short interest in RIVN dipped 0.85 points to 14.9% — a small but notable cover ahead of a key reporting period. also saw short interest ease by 1.1 points to 10.5%.
INTC shorts trimmed positions too — SI fell to 2.77% from 3.16% a week ago. That looks like risk reduction ahead of results. Defense name RTX remains lightly shorted at 1.3%. GME shorts held steady at 13.7%.
The week ahead is dense with catalysts. Options markets are pricing in big moves.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
